Irish Examiner view: Climate change apathy won't get us far
A woman fans herself while visiting the Sagrada Familia Church on a hot day in Barcelona, Spain, where temperatures reached highs of 46C on Monday. Picture: Emilio Morenatti/AP
It’s not as if we didn’t know.
With Europe experiencing temperatures as high as 46C in Spain — and authorities in Portugal, Italy, Greece, and France issuing heat, wildfire, and health warnings — the battle against climate change is moving up a gear.
UN climate summit boss Ana Toni reminded us succinctly that, over the next 100 years, “climate is our biggest war” and while she admitted that the world is focused right now on various conflicts, humankind cannot not be distracted from what will be its most important battle.
As the CEO of Cop30, the UN’s climate summit, Ms Toni is right to express her concern that we have lost focus on those climate issues which will determine the ultimate fate of the human race.
Unfortunately, while we fight amongst ourselves and pour attention on the unnecessary carnage that has been wilfully created by malign actors across the globe, our attention has drifted away from a war we must win.
The current heatwave follows a string of broken extreme-heat records, including Europe’s hottest-ever March, according to the EU’s Copernicus monitor.
As a result of Earth’s continued warming, extreme weather events — including hurricanes, droughts, floods, and heatwaves — are becoming more intense and frequent.
Deaths from warm weather could kill 129,000 people annually if temperatures reach 3C above preindustrial levels. As of now, heat-related deaths across Europe stand at 44,000.
As Brazil prepares to host Cop30 in Belem in November, the lack of international focus on climate issues is becoming an issue in its own right. Less than 30 of the 200 participating nations have even drafted plans, as required by the 2015 Paris agreement, to combat the worst effects of global warming.
We here in Ireland, holidaymakers aside, can be thankful for — so far — not experiencing the kind of conditions felt across Europe. But be certain, conditions here are changing and for the earth and its inhabitants, apathy won’t get us far.
As we enjoy our summer, the longer days and the beaches and seaside, it is a pertinent time to remind dog owners to pay closer attention than usual to their hounds.
The summer bathing season is already underway and runs until September 15. Around the country, those beaches with designated swimming areas restrict dog access. This is not because the local councils have a scunner against dogs, but because of potential nuisance.
Not necessarily the bother of unleashed pets roaming untethered, but because of the public health risk of fouling.
While most cities and towns have successfully combatted the issue of dog fouling on streets and pavements by encouraging owners to ‘scoop the poop’, once people get out into the country, their civic responsibilities seem to desert them.
Consequently, the temptation while at the beach with their pets is simply to bury the offending mess. But dog poo contains several dangerous pathogens that can pose a significant threat to human health.
At the beach, that threat is multiplied because people are more likely to come in contact with dog faeces as a result, merely, of running around and/or swimming. Indeed, research has shown that just a little dog poo can go a long way towards making you sick.
Frighteningly, it appears, there’s enough E.coli in one dog poo to contaminate 3m litres of water — enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool. And a single gram contains up to 23m faecal coliform bacteria. Dog poo can also spread parasites such as hookworms, roundworms, whipworms, and ringworms, as well as parvovirus and salmonella.
Despite the potential for offenders — or their owners, at least — to face fines of €150, people still seem to think it is okay simply to bury poo in sand, or to actually bag it and then just leave it there for someone else to collect.
Studies in the Dublin area have found that dog fouling at Merrion, Sandymount, Donabate, and Portrane contributes greatly to bathing water in Dublin Bay being occasionally unsuitable for swimming during the summer season.
The message is clear: Dog poo really can sicken you.
When American guitarist Joe Bonamassa rocked up to Crowley’s music shop in Friar St in Cork at the weekend to purchase a Fender Stratocaster with a sunburst finish, he was closing a devotional circle in reverence to the late Irish guitar hero, Rory Gallagher.
The arc of that homage will be further expanded over the coming three nights in the city when the American virtuoso straps on Gallagher’s iconic Strat — its sunburst lacquer finish petrified by his excessively acidic perspiration — and plays a set based on the Cork man’s Irish Tour ’74 live album.
Back in the day, Rory’s traditional end-of-year tour of Ireland included gigs at the Ulster Hall in Belfast, the Carlton Cinema in Dublin, and Cork’s City Hall. Thankfully, his record company was wise enough to record the results.
Anyone lucky enough to have attended any of those concerts will remember them for the excitement of seeing a native rock god, the rivers of sweat generated by the lumberjack-shirted and be-denimed hordes and the genius of Gallagher’s songwriting and playing.
For anyone who was not there, the live album that emerged from those gigs — recorded on Ronnie Lane’s mobile studio — is a lasting testimony to Rory’s uncanny abilities. For fans old and new, the opportunity to see Bonamassa recreate a unique part of Irish rock lore will probably be something they’ll never forget.
The great wheel of life took another turn when the American purchased his own sunburst Fender from the same outlet that Rory originally bought his. That wheel will be spinning in the Marquee in Cork this week when Rory’s axe once more hits its stride and inspires a nation.
CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
